Dear Families and Friends of St Paul’s,
Week two in term four of an academic year is always a very special one in the life of the college. It is the last week of formal lessons for our Yr. 12 graduating class and includes several extremely important celebrations. These celebrations, in many ways, help us to put our life in perspective, acknowledge how important the college is in the lives of our students and their families, and allows the younger year levels to see and understand what we are all committed to doing – in partnership together.
A great highlight for us all at the Senior Years Presentation was the “debut” of our giant new screen and audio system in the gymnasium. The work done by the “Big Screen Video” and AJS Lighting, Sound and Events companies has been amazing, and we have finally now got a system that does justice to all the amazing work done collectively by the staff, the students, and the families. Everyone present was delighted with the ceremony and the quality of the presentation. Personally, I am so pleased to be able to now offer the St Paul’s community the very best of what is available in this area and what you all so very much deserve! I know how much our music department appreciates it! We are so grateful to them for their professionalism and support of our dreams.
We again enjoyed this facility at the Year 12 Graduation Mass. It will enable us all to participate more fully in the celebrations, the prayers, the formalities, and our ability to engage and celebrate together.
Great Building News
This week our families would have received a letter from the College outlining the most recent success story regarding our building program. While it now seems to have progressed quicker than first expected, and will bring some disruption to our normal structures, the news is awesome.
We have engaged the services of Sarah Constructions Pty Ltd to build the new Primary Years building and the engagement with the company has been amazing so far. Sarah’s has commenced their establishment arrangements and has actively cooperated with the college to assist us in making our normal operations as smooth as possible. We look forward with great confidence to watching this next stage of our master plan come to fruition. Exciting times!
We do apologise for any disruption this may cause to families, but we are certain we will all reap the benefits of this development in a short space of time.
New Staff
The College continues to grow in all aspects of our life. As we build on the great success of becoming a co-educational school and welcome another 100 new students into our great community for 2023, so too will we welcome a new group of staff.
While we are not able to announce all the appointments, we can assure families that the quality of those people who have applied to work with us has again been outstanding. Our growth has not only allowed us but also driven us to continue to review what structures are needed for us to provide our students and families with the very best structures and human resources we can. In 2023 we will have more emphasis on the pursuit of excellence in our core business of teaching and learning. We have added more senior appointments to positions of Leaders of Learning (i.e. Leaders of Design and Technologies, Health and P.E, and The Arts), and we have added new roles supporting a cross section of services such as the “Head of Learning Diversity” which will oversee Inclusive Education, Gifted and Talented programs and ATSI support amongst other things. We will announce these appointments when we can and with permission of the staff and other schools, from which the staff are coming.
Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop Building - Official Opening
Next week we can finally officially bless and open the new Senor Learning Centre complex which will be known as the Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop Building. While this has taken us much more time than we all would have liked, it will be another great occasion for the College and we will welcome several distinguished guests including Archbishop Patrick O'Regan.
We will provide more news and photos associated with this celebration.
Transition visits
Commencing over the last week or so we have undertaken several transition visits for students who will be new to the College in 2023. This is due to the review of all our programs leading into our first year as a co-educational school this year conducted by our amazing Transition Co-ordinator Ms Donna Nguyen and her desire to make the process even better for the new boys and girls as well as their families. Already they are being very well received.
Term four is the most hectic and we have many more celebrations and opportunities to welcome families and guests into our beautiful community. I hope all families take the opportunity to visit and enjoy these celebrations as you are most welcome and so much a part of the reason, we have them.
Take care
God Bless
Paul Belton
The Year 5 Cohort experienced the Adelaide Planetarium based at UniSA’s Mawson Lakes campus. This excursion was to finish off our Space and Earth Unit in Science. Students were amazed at the unique and interactive experience, which allowed them to explore the universe, galaxy and solar system. 
